A jury comprised of nine women and three men spent a little more than three hours deliberating, but unanimously returned with a guilty verdict on all charges, stemming from the July 19, 2011 murder of 16-year-old Dominique Devlin on the streets of Norristown.

It was a poignant and tense moment in the courtroom when the foreman read the verdict. The defendant stood stone-faced against the backdrop of his family members, some wailing and sobbing as Pierce was taken away in handcuffs.

Exiting court Wednesday, emotions ran high amongst family members of both the victim and the defendant.

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Mother of Devlin, Kimberly Spearman, had tears streaming down her face as the verdict was read. She was embraced by family members of Devlin, seemingly grateful to hear the outcome they were waiting for.

“Justice has been served,” she told The Times Herald.

The verdict proved a victory for Nathan Schadler and Colleen McIntyre, assistant district attorneys handling the case.

“The family is very pleased with the verdict. I’m glad that the jury was able to see the evidence and follow it,” said Schadler.

“It was very clear they were a very thorough, complete jury. I thought that all of our witnesses did a fantastic job telling the truth. I think that when witnesses tell the truth, it just shows through and every single one of our witnesses had that air and ring of truth in their testimony. I’m just pleased that the jury was able to see that.”

Pierce was immediately taken to prison after Judge Thomas C. Branca ordered him remanded. Sentencing is not scheduled until February 2013.

“Well, it’s what the jury found. It’s not the one I was hoping for, that’s for sure,” said defense attorney Richard Tompkins.

Pierce’s mother was escorted out on the arms of two young, male relatives. She offered no comment for purposes of this article.

Pierce, of the 1300 block of Arch Street, testified on his own behalf on Tuesday. He tried to convince the jury he and Devlin had met in an alleyway near Green and Basin streets the evening of July 19, 2011 for a sexual rendezvous, but had been interrupted by a third person. It was this unidentified mystery man who Pierce claimed shot Devlin, though he was unable to provide any type of meaningful description of the alleged assailant.

Appearing in court Wednesday, Pierce maintained composure — as he did throughout the entire trial, which lasted a little more than a week. He repeatedly professed his innocence under direct-, cross- and redirect-examination from both the prosecution and the defense.

While Branca ordered no jurors were to be interviewed following the verdict, Pierce’s story proved to be unconvincing to them. During closing arguments Tuesday, Tompkins tried to paint a picture of why a former acquaintance of Pierce would testify against him in court. Tompkins said Cory Collins — who perhaps gave the most damning testimony against Pierce — was only cooperating with prosecutors in exchange for leniency when it came time for sentencing in his own legal matters.

According to prosecutors, Pierce was seeking revenge on Devlin for her apparent role in a botched robbery at his home only a few weeks prior to her death. When Pierce became aware of Devlin’s involvement in the incident, he reportedly said, “you know that (expletive) Dom set me up. That (expletive) has to pay.”

The Montgomery County Coroner found two bullets in Devlin’s body, matching those spent from a Mauser 6.39 automatic handgun recovered from the scene of the crime.